The American College of Radiology (ACR) has convened a LI-RADS (Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System) committee to develop a system for standardized reporting and data collection for CT and MRI surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma.
The initiative is designed to accomplish the following:
- Reduce the frequency of technically inadequate examinations by specifying minimum acceptable technical parameters for CT and MR surveillance imaging procedures.
- Improve communication with clinicians, reduce variability in lesion interpretation, and facilitate meta-analysis of published manuscripts by creating a lexicon of controlled CT and MR terminology.
- Reduce omissions of relevant information from CT and MR reports by standardizing report content and structure.
- Facilitate outcome monitoring, performance auditing, quality assurance, and research by producing a formal data collection system.
LI-RADS categories will allow radiologists to stratify lesions according to the level of concern for hepatocellular carcinoma and suggest strategies for follow-up and management.
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